It Started With A Kiss
by The Talking Pen
Summary: This was wrong. This was so wrong. And Misa knew it was, all too well. So why didn't it feel wrong? Strange, new feelings sprout as she gets to know the mysterious Hope more. What complications will these two face? ! YURI ! MisaxOC LightxMisa LxOC
1. A Brand New Feeling

(Pen-chan: Yes, well, what can I say? This is what you get from a person who loves Yuri AND Death Note. :D ... But since Death Note's only interesting female character - aside from Rem, maybe, but she's not human - is Misa... and I didn't feel like using Light's little sister or anything like that... I decided to use my OC! ... Eh, well, technically, she's supposed to be straight. In fact, she's from another Death Note fic that I wrote on my blog, an L love story. But since I'm bored and I luffles her... *pushes OC into fanfic* GWUAHAHA! Enjoy!)

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Death Note! If I did, Death Note would be surprisingly and grossly happy... like an overrated Shoujo manga. So it's a good thing I don't, neh? ^-^ However, I do own Hope/Ichigo! SHE'S MINE. Go get your own OC. D: **

---

It was exactly 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The gentle breeze blew lightly and the clouds drifted across the deep blue sky slowly; it was a lazy afternoon. A certain blond seemed to think so too as she lounged sheepishly on the leather sofa that was in the middle of her room. Yes, it was supposed to be a lazy day today. A _very _lazy day indeed. And lazy days were suppose to feel relaxing, weren't they?

... right?

_'So why doesn't Misa-Misa feel relaxed at all?!' _the blond thought, clearly frustrated.

She shifted her slim body a bit in attempt to get into a more comfortable position. A few seconds later, when she found that she didn't feel comfortable at all, Misa shifted to another position again.

And again... And again.... And again.

And.... _again_.

After trying out at least 10 different positions on the sofa, Misa finally settled for one; her delicate and tiny feet in the air, blond pigtails dangling limply upside down along with her arms. She stared up at the ceiling blankly in her current topsy-turvy state. A small, but audible sigh escaped her cherry lips.

Her vibrant green eyes moved slowly away from the ceiling to the menacing security camera that was installed at the top corner of her room. She frowned.

Stupid surveillance camera! Always watching her every move. What does a girl have to do to have a little privacy once in awhile?

Misa glowered at the piece of technology hatefully. She knew very well who was watching her from the other end. That stupid pervert of a detective, Ryuuzaki. Why must he insist on doing such pervertic things? Oh, why oh why? Misa liked attention. But this was going _way_ too far.

The young model was so caught up in her mental rant of how much a pervert Ryuuzaki was that she almost forgot why she was so frustrated in the first place.

Almost.

She found herself dropping the rant when that person popped back into her mind again. That particular person who had been occupying her mind for the last three days. That person who seemed to pop up in her mind unintentionally whenever there was nothing keeping her busy.

And strangely, contrary to popular belief, that 'person' was _**not**_ Light Yagami.

**NOT.**

... even listening to that sentence sounded pretty shocking.

The person she was thinking of was someone who someone who she didn't even take notice much of before. That person had always been... well, _just_ a person.

That is, until now.

...And no, it wasn't Ryuuzaki the pervert, either.

Heck, that person wasn't even _male_!

Maybe that was why Misa was so frustrated. It was bad enough that the person wasn't Light, but instead another female? God, that was so wrong. So, so, so _**very**_ wrong, in so many different ways, on so many levels. No, no, no! Misa shouldn't be thinking about this! About _her_. It was sick. And wrong. sickeningly wrong.

_... so, why didn't it feel like it was sickeningly wrong?_

Misa closed her eyes shut. She wanted to scream. She was so frustrated, it wasn't even funny. She swung her legs over the sofa in attempt to let some of that frustration out. Come to think about it, why was she sitting like this, anyway? It was such an unlady-like position. It made her look like a little kid. It would have been okay if she was alone, but she was being watched.

That's right. She was being watched by Light. Oh, and Ryuuzaki too, since they were chained together and all. She should sit properly, like a proper lady. Light wouldn't be very impressed if he saw her in this unglamorous position. She swung her legs a few more times before sitting up properly, her legs crossed over each other.

Misa eyed the camera again.

_'Misa wonders if she's watching, too.' _the blond couldn't help but ponder curiously. Ah. That's it. Yet another thought about her. Misa begun to wonder when all these weird, strange thoughts would stop haunting her.

When would that girl.... that woman... stop invading her head?

What was it about that woman that she was so fascinated about? Her long, dark, ebony hair that seemed to flow like an endless river of silk behind her whenever she moved about? Her pale porcelain-like skin that was smooth to the touch? Her matching jet black eyes that seemed to be ever so full of mystery? What was with her eyes, anyway? They were weird. They always seemed so deep. So lifeless, too. Blank. As if she was always daydreaming. Actually, she probably was, most of the time. She was only interested in things that caught her attention, and unfortunately, the number of things that she found interesting were very limited. Misa remembered the words that she was so fond of using so much.

It was always, "I'm bored." or, "This is boring.".

That girl. She was always seeking something to kill her neverending boredom. Even though she was a no-nonsense person, she liked amusing things. It was a weird combination, a very odd personality. Her face, because of those eyes, always looked emotionless. If she stood still from a distance, Misa would have very well mistaken her for some kind of doll.

That woman, who was also part of the task-force, was known as Hope. Or, Ichigo, if you like. It was her so-called 'alias'.

Misa thought Hope was a pretty name. It sounded elegant. Though, looking at the woman, she made the name 'dark-sounding' in some way. Maybe it was because she seemed to like dark clothes. Misa didn't mind. She thought that the name sounded more elegant in that way.

As for her alias... Ichigo? Misa wondered what possessed her to pick that name. It sounded so cheery and bright. Not like her other name.

Ichigo... that meant strawberry. Does she like strawberries? Maybe that's why she chose that name. Or was it for some other reason?

_Misa-Misa wanted to know..._

...Misa was thinking too much again. She furrowed her thin eyebrows together in what seemed like anger.

It was _her fault _Misa was in this present state at the moment. **It was all **_**her**_** fault.**

If she hadn't gone and done _that _three days ago, this would have never happened to her at all! No, in fact, if she hadn't gone and done 'that' three days ago, Misa-Misa would still be oblivious to her existence. How dare that woman go on and do _that _to her? How dare she pushed her precious Light out of her head and waltzed about as if she belonged there?

Misa didn't want to even think about that incident that happened three days ago. It was so outrageous, so un-called for! She had been trying to avoid replaying the thought at all costs, but it seemed to come back each time, stronger, threatening to taunt her with it's wickedness.

It lurked somewhere at the back of her mind. Nothing but an unwanted memory.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

_--- Flashback ---_

_"Oh, Light-kun, Light-kun!" Misa chirped excitedly and ran up to her lover. She smiled as she held a sea-green glass bottle behind her back, praising herself inwardly for coming up for this brilliant idea all by herself._

_"Yes... Misa? What is it this time?" Light held back a sigh, faking a half-hearted smile to the girl. Misa rocked back and forth on her feet, barely unable to contain excitement as she continued to smile brightly at the brunette boy. Ryuuzaki, aka L, the world's legendary number one detective, sat perched up on a chair in his usual sitting manner with his legs pulled close to his chest. He looked at the bubbly blond than turned to glance at Light in sympathy._

_"Misa-Misa had just had the most brilliant idea!" she gushed, the smile on her face growing bigger with each passing second. It was almost as if it was going to grow so wide that her jaw might have fallen off. She pulled the glass bottle out from behind her back and showed it to Light proudly._

_"A.... a bottle?" Light asked slowly, looking at the bottle in the girl's hands. This was what she was getting all excited over? He had an expression on his face that it told everyone that he begun to doubt Misa's non-exsistant intelligence even more._

_"Yes, a bottle!!" The girl cried happily. "Let's play spin the bottle, Light-kun!"_

_Misa's plan became clear for the world to see. It was yet another one of her devious plots to get a kiss from Light._

_"I don't know, Misa..." Light begun, unsurely. He so did not want to play that with her._

_"What is that, if I may ask? I've never heard of such a strange-sounding game before." Ryuuzaki inquired, placing his thumb to his lips in question._

_"Seriously, Ryuuzaki?" Light threw him a look of disbelief. "You're kidding me. You've never heard of spin the bottle before?"_

_Ryuuzaki shook his head slowly, his round unblinking eyes shining with interest._

_This time, Light really did sigh. "Spin the bottle is a game where a person litterally spins the bottle. When the bottle stops, the person who spun the bottle would have to kiss the person which the tip of the bottle is pointing to."_

_**"Kiss?" **__Ryuuzaki echoed, sounding slightly bewildered._

_Misa's smile faltered. "What? Ryuuzaki-kun doesn't have to play it if he doesn't want to! I didn't even ask if you wanted to play! Come on, Light-kun, let's you and Misa play alone!"_

_"Misa, you can't play spin the bottle with just two people." Light said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_"But- but- but!" Misa stuttered in protest. "Misa wants to play with Light-kun!"_

_"I don't mind joining in for this certain game." Ryuuzaki asserted thoughtfully, chewing on his thumbnail. "This could be an interesting experience."_

_'Pervert!' Misa wanted to yell at him. She glared at the detective, fuming on the inside. She didn't want to spin the bottle and end up having to kiss him instead. However, she wasn't going to give up on playing this game if there was a chance that she could get a kiss out of Light from it._

_Her eyes roamed around the room, searching for a solution. Her green orbs stopped and stared at the dark figure sitting at the far end of the room, quietly sipping tea and minding her own business. It was like she had blocked out the whole conversation, much more absorbed in the few documents that were held in her hand._

_What was her name again? Was it Hope or Ichigo or Yuki or something...? Ah, whatever._

_"Why don't we get Ichigo-san to play with us too?" Misa announced, clapping her hands together in glee._

_Perfect! That way, her chances of having to kiss 'the pervert' would be lessened!_

_Before either of the two males could respond, Misa was already waving her hand in her air frantically, calling out for Ichigo._

_"Ichigo-san, Ichigo-saaaan!" the girl called out, skipping towards her, swinging the glass bottle in her hand. She stood in front of the girl, a grin that was suppose to look inviting and friendly spreading on her lips._

_Ichigo, who was reading the papers in deep intent, looked up calmly at the cheery girl, her deadpan expression never changing. She stared up at her in silence, waiting for what Misa had to say. Upon the cold greeting, Misa felt her confidence fading a bit._

_'What's with this girl?' she thought to herself, getting a bit freaked out by her intense stare._

_"Ermmm.. Ichigo-san, I was wondering if you would like to join us for a game of spin the bottle!" Misa tried to maintain her cheerfulness as she presented the bottle to the other girl._

_Ichigo looked down and stared at the green bottle in Misa's hands for awhile before she turned her head away wordlessly, taking another sip of tea, her attention focusing back on the papers._

_"How boring." She mumbled simply._

_Misa felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance and the rage started to build up inside of her. What! How could she just diss Misa so effortlessly when she came up ever-so-cutely just to invite her for a friendly game of spin the bottle? Who does this girl think she is?!_

_She wanted to give her a piece of her mind and start scolding her, but that would ruin the plan. Instead, she decided to play nice for awhile._

_"But Ichigo-san!" Misa whined, shaking her shoulder with her free hand. She put on her cutest-sounding voice. "Misa-Misa really, really wants to play spin the bottle and it wouldn't be as much fun with just three of us!"_

_No response._

_Misa growled mentally. Oh, so she was ignoring her this time, eh? She'll teach this jerk to ignore a pretty girl!_

_"Leave her alone, Misa." Light's voice came from behind. "If she doesn't want to play, you shouldn't force her to."_

_"But Liggggggggght!" the model turned around wailed. "I really want her to plaaaay!"_

_"Are you sure you don't want to join us, Ichigo?" L asked again in a monotone. He tilted his head to the side._

_Ichigo looked back up at the three, studying the looks on each of their faces. She placed the documents down on the desk in front of her and looked at L._

_"Pretty much." she replied bluntly, flipping the paper unenthusiastically._

_"Pleeeeeeease, Ichigo-san?! Pretty, pretty please with a cherry and lots of icing on top?" Misa begged, clasping her hands together, giving Ichigo her best puppy dog-eye look she could muster. Ichigo just stared at her un-affectedly._

_"Oh, come on! I promise if you play with us just this once, Misa will never bother you to play with her ever again!"_

_"...Alright, alright. Fine. But after this, make sure not to disturb me again." Ichigo finally agreed with a lazy roll of her midnight black pupils. She put her cup of tea down onto the desk with a loud 'clanging' sound._

_"YAY! Misa promises!" Misa squealed, grabbing hold of Ichigo's sleeve. The overly hyper girl tugged eagerly at her sleeve and practically dragged her to the center of the room, where there was a big empty space._

_She plopped herself hurriedly down onto the floor and set the bottle in front of her as the other three took their time in sitting themselves down. The four arranged themselves in a square-ish circle with the gleaming green bottle placed right in the middle._

_"So... what should we do now?" Ichigo asked in her low, dull voice. She propped her chin up onto her palm and stared blankly at the shiny glass bottle in front of her._

_"You havn't heard of this game, either, Ichigo-san?" Light asked, now looking at her. He was a bit surprised that even she hasn't heard of it._

_"I don't have time for boring games, Yagami-san." _

_"Light-kun told me that whoever spins that bottle on the floor has to kiss whoever the tip points to." L interjected, pointing at the bottle calmly._

_"...."_

_Ichigo stared at L without uttering a word. Then, she looked over to Light to make sure he isn't joking. Light just stared back._

_"Right," the black-haired girl breathed, standing up robotically. _

_"Have fun playing then." she says and turns her back to leave, giving them a small wave._

_She was about to take her first step when Misa went on all fours and crawled towards her, grabbing hold of the trench coat Ichigo was wearing and giving it a huge, forceful tug causing her to fall back down onto the floor._

_"NO! Ichigo-san has to stay right here with us and play! You said you would!" Misa pouted childishly, tightening her grip on Ichigo's coat._

_Ichigo turned her head and shot Misa a cold, hard glare, frightening Misa for a few seconds. The pout on her face disappeared for a moment, but it soon turned into one of her own glares that she shot right back at Ichigo. She refused to give up now._

_L and Light watched on as the two girls engaged in a staring contest. It was so freakishly intense that they could do nothing but just sit and watch until one of them decided to break it._

_At long last, Ichigo finally dropped the glare, sighing. She was getting sick of this boring fooling around._

_"Fine, fine. Let's just get this over with quickly." She grumbled, turning around to face the bottle again._

_Misa dropped her own glare and broke into a huge smile, clapping her hands in joy. "Yay!" she cheered, scrambling back to her own place._

_"Misa shall start first!" she proclaimed, putting her hand on the bottle._

_Nobody protested. Light couldn't really give much of a damn, L was just looking on quietly in engrossment, finger to mouth, and Ichigo just didn't feel like saying anything after that whole episode._

_"Remember! The person the bottle points to has to kiss Misa no matter what!" Misa hinted and glanced up longingly at Light. Light didn't look impressed._

_"Okay, here goes..."_

_She gave the bottle a quick spin and it started to turn rapidly, transforming into a whirlpool of glossy green that somehow matched Misa's eyes which were now glued onto the bottle._

_It was slowly down..._

_Misa smiled wider to herself. She could taste Light's lips already._

_**Slowing down...**_

_Misa could hardly wait._

_**Slower...**_

_Maybe she should have putted on some cherry-flavoured lip gloss before this?_

_**Stopping...**_

_She was going to explode from excitement._

_**Stopped.**_

_Misa blinked and traced the direction the bottle tip was pointing to with her eyes. She expected to see Light's blue trousers... his buttoned-up maroon-coloured shirt... his locks of neatly-combed brown hair... his delighted face._

_Instead, she saw a black trench coat, long black hair and a very bored looking face._

_A __**female **__face._

_"E-e-eh, but-- What!" Misa sputtered and almost screamed, doing a double take. She looked up and down at the bottle, making sure her eyes weren't decieving her._

_The bottle land on Light... neither did it land on L..._

_But Misa didn't think it would land on HER._

_'W-what?! This isn't suppose to happen!' Misa thought, heart racing._

_'U-uh, I think it's fine... I mean, we're both girls right? She wouldn't kiss me... yeah. I'll just tell her that I'll spin it again.' Misa calmed herself down. Ichigo walked over to the girl and squatted in front of her, sighing._

_"Ehehe, Ichigo-san.." Misa smiled, laughing nervously. "Looks like I have to spin the bottle--"_

_Before she could finish her sentence, Misa felt a pair of soft lips pushed forward onto hers, causing her to freeze abruptly. She felt her whole body tense up and a sudden electric current jolted through her as she stared into closed eyelids._

_Ichigo removed her lips calmly after a few seconds and reopened her eyes slowly, her impassive expression never faltering once._

_"--again..." Misa felt the word leave her opened mouth weakly._

_Ichigo propped her chin up onto her palm as she watched carefully as Misa's face started to change colour. First, it turned a light shade of pink. Next, it changed to bright red. Then, it changed into dark red._

_Her shocked facial expression never changed._

_Finally, the information started to sink into her brain and she hastily scrambled onto her feet, nearly tripping over herself as she pointed her index finger in accusation at Ichigo._

_"W-WHAT THE HELL!!!!" She screamed, her finger shaking and her eyes wide. An angry red blush was still painted over her face as she tried to convey her emotions._

_"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!"_

_"It was a kiss."_

_"I KNOW-- BUT WHAT THE HELL! WE'RE BOTH GIRLS! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KISS ME!" _

_"Yes, but you said before, 'The person the bottle points to has to kiss Misa no matter what.'" Ichigo quoted with a mere shrug. "I was just following what you said."_

_"BUT-- BUT!!!" Misa spluttered helplessly._

_"Calm down," Ichigo told her flatly. "It's just a kiss."_

_Misa opened her mouth to yell something, but nothing came out. She stared at the impossibly calm Ichigo in disbelief before turning on her heels and sprinting to her room like a bat out of hell. But not before colliding with a lamp post that was in her way._

_The three stared on speechlessly._

_"....."_

_--- End of Flashback ---_

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"GAAAAAH!" Misa shrieked, covering her tomato-red face with both her hands.

"MISA CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE! THIS IS DRIVING MISA CRAZY!" Misa screeched, getting off the sofa and stomping about the room, throwing her arms about for effect.

_Meanwhile, in the other room..._

"Light-kun, Misa's screaming at herself again..." L stated lazily, unwrapping a piece of candy and popping it into his mouth as he watched the girl throw a fit around her room. He chewed slowly, watching as the girl proceeded to do some sort of weird dancing around the room.

"Again?" Light asked, in an all-knowing voice. He shook his head slowly. "She's been acting weird recently."

"Yes, indeed.... ever since our little game of 'spin the bottle'..." L muses out loud, in between chews. Hope, who was typing away on her laptop heard this and twisted her neck slightly to give L a look.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't imply such things, Ryuuzaki." she grumbled, not stopping her typing.

"Imply what, Ichigo-san?" L asked innocently, popping another sweet into his mouth.

"Hm. You know very well what I mean." Hope continued to grumble, and started to click with her mouse.

"I'm just simply stating that... there's a very high percentage that Misa's behaving this way because of your past actions."

Hope paused in mid-click to think about L's words. Then, she started to click again.

"Well. I can't take back what I did now, can I?" she said. "...besides, It's not like I enjoyed it or anything. I didn't even want to play her boring little game, but she was insisting and eventually I was forced to." She added defensively.

"...Light-kun, what do you make of this..."

"...... Are you even listening to me?" She asks in irritation, looking over to the two discussing over a document.

She turns back to the laptop, muttering some colourful words about being neglected and such.

**"OWWW!"** Misa exclaimed in pain from the screen. Her loud, shrill voice blared through the speakers.

"I believe she may have injured herself..." L muttered, glancing at the TV.

Light shook his head. "Ugh. Let's go check up on her, Ryuuzaki." he murmurs, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was no better than looking after a small child. He could already feel a huge migrane coming on.

"Alright." L agrees, setting one foot down onto the floor before the other. He shuffles out the room behind Light who was leading the way out in the front.

The room was quiet without the constant chit-chatting of the two and Hope eventually stopped paying attention to the laptop. She leaned backwards to strech herself a bit, gazing at the televion that showed Misa's room. The pair had already entered Misa's room and were talking to her whilst she held her knee which she seemed to have injured.

She stood up, looks in one of the drawers of the desk and grabbed a box before making her way out of the room.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

_In Misa's room..._

"Light-kun! It huuuurts!" Misa sobbed, holding onto her bleeding knee.

"You shouldn't have been so careless," Light scolded lightly, bending over to inspect the wound. "It doesn't look that bad..." Honestly, sometimes Misa can be so troublesome.

"Does it feel that bad, Misa?" L asked, tilting his head. "It's bleeding."

"Obviously it feels bad, you--" Misa started to growl but stopped. Her eyes were now on the third person entering her room.

Just the person she didn't want to see.

She could feel her heart racing again and time seemed to stop. All intentions of telling L off vanished away in thin air as she suddenly lost her voice.

"I'll help you bandage that up." Hope offered in a soft voice. She walked over to the stunned and somewhat quieter Misa and opened up the first aid kit that she was carrying.

She dabbed some alchohal onto a piece of cotton wool and gently pressed it on the injury with upmost care. Misa winced a bit, but bit down on her bottom lip and said nothing as the alchohal stung her. Hope then took out a roll of bandages next and cut off a reasonable length to wrap around Misa's knee.

"There, it should be okay now." Hope mumbled to herself as she stood up.

"T-thank you." Misa said in a flustered voice, looking down at her newly bandaged knee.

She couldn't help but blush a little when she saw her staring back down at her with those deep, endless eyes again. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she spoke again, her voice acting like a tiny electric current zapping her.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Just a... a little..." Misa murmured, looking down quickly in embarassment.

_**What the hell was wrong with her?**_ Why was feeling so tensed?!

"Next time, you shouldn't dance around tables."

Misa bit her tongue and wanted to protest. She wasn't dancing around tables!

'Misa-Misa was just walking around the room and got distracted by another thought of _**you**_ to notice where she was going.' she almost couldn't stop herself from saying.

Though, secretly, she was a bit happy that Hope had came just to help her tend to her wound. She didn't know why, but she was just happy.

"It's rare to see you worry about someone so much, Ichigo-san." L commented, interrupting Misa's happy thoughts.

"It was just a bandage, Ryuuzaki." Hope rolled her eyes. She was squatting to put back all the things back into the First Aid Kit.

"T-that's right... it's just a bandage." Misa found herself agreeing, nodding her pretty little head vigorously. "It.. it doesn't mean anything big or something like that..."

"I'm kind of jealous..." L muttered admittedly in a pouty tone, putting his thumb to his lip. "When was the last time you should some concern like that for _me_, Ichigo-san?"

Hope's face deadpanned. The colour on Misa's face drained a little upon hearing those words.

"Are you sulking?" she asked dryly. "I don't know... maybe if you rammed your head against the wall or something..." she sugguested, sarcastically.

L frowned at her sentence.

"But if I do that, I'll lose about 5% of my intelligence due to the loss of brain cells..."

".... I wasn't being serious, Ryuuzaki."

"Then, if I really happened to hurt myself, would you nurse me back to health, too?" the detective still insisted on an answer, pressing his thumb onto his bottom lip. He stood beside her, gazing down in intent at what she was doing. His thumb never left his mouth as he watched her in simple fascination, like a kid watching his favorite cartoon on television.

"I don't know... depends." She stood up, the first aid kit in her hand.

"Maybe if you continue to interest me even more, I will." She teased lightly, a smirk playing in her voice as she passed the detective, who smiled vaguely against the thumb pressed to his mouth.

"The conversations you two have are all so particular." Light commented, peering at the man beside him at the corner of his eye. The small smile on L's face faded as soon as Light's voice ruined his daze.

"Yes, I suppose it's been a part of our normal routine."

"Ha. I never thought such a weird couple like you and Ichigo-san would even exist in the first place." Light jokes, as the two exited Misa's room.

"You weirdos are like _made_ for each other."

Miss Misa Amane, who was now forgotten because she had already been taken cared of, was abnormally quiet as she sat on the floor, thinking.

She had been witnessing the somewhat casual 'flirting' between L and Hope, feeling very left out and unnoticed.

W-what was this...?

_A strange, heavy feeling was bottling up inside of her and she clentched the edge of her skirt tightly... _

**xXxXxXxXxXx**


	2. Shopping With A New Friend

(Pen-chan: Alright, the second chapter! Gwuahaha. Hopefully it isn't too crappy. ^^)

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Death Note. But Hope is MINE! ALL MINE! *hugs Hope protectively* Oh, and I own Mayu, too!**

---

_**Hope-san is cold.**_

Misa decided that instantly the day she first saw her. Her face; it was like a statue's. It hardly shown any emotion at all. It was even worse than Ryuuzaki's, at some points. Sometimes she could stay silent for hours on end, while the rest kept on talking and talking, as if she wasn't even there. It was odd. Misa hadn't bothered to think about such an odd person like that.

_**Hope-san is cavalier.**_

Hope hardly spoke at all when it wasn't necessary. However, when she did open her mouth, the sentence that came out would often be a rude one. No matter who she was talking to, there was always some form of arrogance hidden in her words. Misa didn't like this. She didn't like rude people.

_**Hope-san is sarcastic.**_

This was also part of Hope's rudeness. Sarcasm burns. It was offending. Why did she need to use it so much? Misa thought that it only made her seem more unfriendly, more haughty. Such attitude should not come from such an elegant-looking person such as her. It didn't match. Misa-Misa didn't like Hope-san's sarcasm.

_**Hope-san is mysterious.**_

Ichigo. That was Hope's second name. Her alias. However, besides her name and her personality, there was nothing more Misa knew about Hope. She had not heard of her past, her family or even where she was living. Was she a full-blooded Japanese? Did she have any siblings? Did she prefer sweet or spicy foods? These were things Misa didn't know but wanted to.

_**Hope-san is unpredictable.**_

Misa had just recently decided that. From the way she acted that night, who knew she could be so... _nice_? Sure, she had acted like it was no big deal, but still... She didn't seem like the person to show even that amount of concern towards someone. To a friend. This caused Misa to wonder... did Hope even see her as a friend..?

_**Hope-san is alluring.**_

Who knew that this girl, this stone-faced, girl full of odds and ends would fascinate Misa so much? How did this even happen? This was crazy. This was wrong, weird, twisted even! Yet, Misa failed to hide from these feelings. She was indeed, very, very captivated by this certain girl. She wanted to get to know her more. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted to catch her eye. She wanted to appear interesting to her. A part of her didn't care if she was out of her mind. She just wanted to know more...

**Hope-san is L's.**

Misa's heart sank. Sudden realization smacked her right in the face. She had been so hooked up in her thoughts that she had even failed to miss such an agonizing fact. The girl she had been daydreaming about for these past few days... she already belonged to someone else. She belonged to L-san. She had forgotten that they were actually a couple. It wasn't her fault, really. They hardly even acted like a couple. However, there were a few obvious differences from the way Hope treats L from everyone else.

For one, she talks a lot more to him than anyone else. Their conversations would be a whole different style from how she usually talks. The topics could be as random as random could be, but Hope-san didn't seem to mind. No, she didn't. It was more like she enjoyed them. One could tell. The way they talked, it was as if they could talk on and on for hours without getting tired. Sometimes, Hope would get annoyed. But it was quite obvious that she did enjoy his company.

As long as she's been there, Misa never did once hear Hope label L as "boring".

Instead, she would call him "interesting" and sometimes even smirk while saying it.

For a normal person, this wouldn't be much. But for Hope, it was _a whole lot_.

Hope belonged to L. She was his. He had her heart. And for some reason, Misa felt angry at this. Angry at L. Angry at him having something she didn't have. Before this, she already hadn't really liked him in the first place because he was a nasty pervert. Why would Hope want a pervert _like that_? Misa shuddered with disgust. He wasn't even that good-looking! He had so many flaws that Misa couldn't even count the number of them with the limited amount of fingers and toes she had. Most importantly, she disliked L because he was out to get Kira, aka, Light.

Misa stopped.

That's right. Light.

Guilt washed through her system as she recalled her precious boyfriend. Why was she being so silly, getting all work up about that girl? She already had what she wanted. A handsome, charming boyfriend. She, herself already belonged to someone of her own. She shouldn't care about the relationship between L and Hope.

Confidence returned to her as she thought about her beloved Light and reassured herself. She was sure she loved Light. Dead serious. He was the one who helped avenged her parents, he was the one who accepted her into his arms. For that, Misa told herself that she would do anything for Light, give up her body and soul for him. To be by his side and love him with all of her heart as he tried to create a new world.

Her love for Light swallowed up the lingering thoughts of Hope inside of her head.

That's right... she didn't need Hope-san. She didn't need these unwanted feelings. She had all she needed right here.

_...Still, Misa-Misa thought that being friends with Hope-san wouldn't hurt._

She got up and skipped out of the room merrily.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Misa-Misa wants to go shopping!" She declared loudly, bursting into the room where the rest were in. She already had her wallet and cellphone inside of her handbag which she swung around readily.

"Misa, I don't have time for this..." Light's voice groaned in response.

"But Misa hasn't bought any new clothes in such a long time!" the blond whined in protest, stomping her feet onto the floor. "Besides! It was getting really boring in there!"

"Can't you go by yourself?"

"No! It'll be lonely to shop alone!"

"Why don't you take Ichigo-san with you?" L, who had been listening to the conversation, suddenly suggested.

Light and Misa turned to him and stared. They were startled by his unexpected idea.

A part of Misa wondered why he was so eager to offer giving up his girlfriend so quickly. Yet, another part of her thanked him silently.

"No way." the target objected against the idea, upon hearing her name being mentioned. Misa felt shot down by her blunt answer.

"Why me, anyway? I'm busy sorting out these documents."

L raised his hand-cuffed hand and waved his wrist slowly, causing the chain to rattle noisily. "It would be extremely inappropriate for Light-kun and I to appear in public in this fashion. We would surely attract unwanted attention. Plus, those documents can wait until later, they aren't of any huge or urgent importance. Besides, being a part of the task force means that you have the authority to watch over her as she goes into public, Ichigo-san." he explained calmly.

Hope dropped the documents with a slight scowl. He had a point.

"Get someone else to follow her shopping, then."

"The rest of the task force aren't present in the building at the moment."

"... get Watari, then."

"Watari is busy running an errand that I sent him on this morning."

".... God." the black-haired girl grumbled under her breath, running out of excuses to use. Damn him. He had her beat. She stood up and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"This better not take long." she said grumpily as she left the room.

"Ryuuzaki, I swear you're the only one who can persuade her that easily." Light remarked, smiling a bit. Smugly, he cheered on the inside. Good, now he didn't have to go shopping with Misa and get dragged around in the women's clothes section.

The detective took a sip of his sugar-filled coffee indifferently.

"Don't give Ichigo-san too much trouble, Misa. And come back before six." the brown-haired boy said. Secretly, he wanted to add, _'Scratch that, come back as late as you want.' _but decided not to.

Misa left the room after a small nod, a nervous pit in her stomach. She couldn't believe her plan had worked out so perfectly. Was she really going to go shopping with Hope-san? _Alone?_

She smiled as she approached the outside. She was going to use this chance to get closer to Hope-san as much as possible. Hope was already waiting for her outside, her arms folded across her chest.

"Ichigo-san! Where do you want to go first?" she sang, as they both walked together down the people-filled sidewalk.

"I don't know. You choose."

Misa's smile vanished at the lack of Hope's enthusiasm. It reappaered again, seconds later.

"Ah! I know this really cute clothes shop down town! Let's go there!"

"Ah, it's fin--" Hope got cut off as Misa pulled her eargerly into a yellow cab that she had hailed.

_This was going to be a long, long day._

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Soon, they reached their destination and were walking down the sidewalk again. This part of town was way more crowded than from where they were previously walking and Hope gritted her teeth irritably as she got squahsed inbetween sweaty bodies that reeked of sweat mixed with perfume/cologone. To make it worst, the sun was beating down onto her head, causing her to sweat a little herself. Misa was holding tightly onto her thin wrist, dragging the poor woman through the sea of people, seemingly immune to everything.

They passed rows of different shops, all of them mostly selling clothes of different styles. Hope was wondering when all of this would be over when she finally got yanked into one of the shops by the young model.

"This shop is one of my favorites!" Misa gibbered happily, looking through a stack of tops that were piled neatly on top of each other.

Thankfully, the shop wasn't as crowded as compared to outside, and the air-conditioning made it quite pleasent on the inside, blocking out the sweltering heat. Hope glanced about the shop skeptically. As suspected, it was a shop that offered Gothic Lolita clothing, the type of clothing that Misa adored the most.

She eyed said model as she picked up a checked green and black skirt that came with a studded belt adorned with tiny skulls making grosteque expressions.

"Don't you think this is cute?" she asked, placing the skirt against her abdomen, pretending that she was wearing it.

When she didn't reply, Misa looked back up at her and found her staring at the wall emotionlessly, ignoring her as if she was as invisible as air. Misa narrowed her eyebrows and was about to say something when a woman, one of the shop-keepers, suddenly interrupted her.

"Ah! Well, well, well! Isn't it Misa Amane, our favourite customer! Long time no see! How're you doing, girl?" the shop-keeper asked in a high-pitched voice.

Hope turned to look at the new woman. She scoffed inwardly. She had long, chocolate-brown hair held up in a high ponytail, and thick, fake extended-eyelashes applied onto her etelids. Her tanned face was also caked with thick make up expertly, eventhough it looked a tinsy-bit overdone. She also had on clothes that looked like that came from the store was was working in.

The shop-keeper saw Hope staring at her and grinned back.

"Cute friend," she commented, a small pur in her voice. "What's her name?"

"Mayu! Hi!" Misa greeted, beaming. "This is Ichigo-san. Ichigo-san, I would like you to meet Mayu!"

"Ichigo, eh?" Mayu grinned wider at her. "It's nice to meet you."

"... Likewise." Hope answered after a short while. She gazed deadly at Mayu, her mouth clamped shut in a straight line. She didn't like the grin on her face. It was somehow creepy-looking... in a seductive kind of way. It gave her tiny shivers.

"So," Mayu started, putting a hand on one of her shapely hips. "Can I help introduce you girls to some of our newest stuff?"

"Misa would love that!"

"..."

Mayu led Misa to a corner where some clothes were displayed on a hanger, the two girls engaging in an animated conversation.

Hope just walked away, uninterested, without uttering another word, leaving the two to talk and gossip among themselves.

"What about this?" Mayu asked, holding up a black and white top. "It's personally one of my favourties."

"Wow! Misa thinks it's really cute!" she says happily, feeling the fine material of the shirt with her fingers.

"Thanks. It just came in last week." Mayu's hazel eyes wandered over to where Hope was. The black-eyed girl was looking at some accessories. She was holding up a chain necklace and inspecting the pendant closely, the same look of dead boredom slapped across her face.

"Your friend's pretty quiet." Mayu said, absent-mindedly. "Is she shy or something?"

"No, Ichigo-san's always been like that." Misa told her in a 'matter-of-fact' tone. The foxy brunette grinned, her white teeth gleaming. She rubbed her chin as she continued to observe Hope, a look that ressembles a predator stalking its prey present in her lively hazel eyes.

"Ah. That's too bad. Well, she's a real doll. I wouldn't mind dating her~."

"W-what!!" Misa gawked, her green eyes nearly buldging from their sockets, the top slipping from her hands and dropping onto the floor. She wondered if her ears weren't as clean as she thought they were.

Mayu laughed heartily at Misa's naive reaction. She lazily waved a hand at her customer, reassuring her. "I'm kidding..." She teased, winking.

She paused for a while before deciding to add, "I wouldn't dare take away such a beauty from Misa Aname!" in a playful voice as Misa bent down to pick the top off the polished floor.

"M-MISA ISN'T LIKE THAT!" Misa squeaked loudly, causing several heads to turn her direction. She blushed a bit and glared daggers at the sniggering shop-keeper who looked like she was having the time of her life.

"For your information, Misa-Misa has a boyfriend!" She announced proudly, pointing a finger at Mayu. Her eyes were squinted in irritation. "And so does Ichigo-san!"

"Oh, that's too bad then... you two would've made a lovely couple." A devilish smirk played on Mayu's lips. She was shamelessly flaunting her pleasure she found in Misa's embarassment. She sniggered again.

Misa fumed. She couldn't believe the crap that was coming out of her big mouth! Seriously, one of these days, she would just slap that girl silly until her cheeks were so red and puffy that she would have trouble seeing the next day.

She shoved the top back into Mayu's hands and stuck her tongue out childishly at her, saying loudly, "Mayu is a BAKA (idiot)!".

Then, she turned around and stomped over to Hope, grabbing her wrist and storming out of the shop. Hope blinked, looking over her shoulder to give Mayu a questioning look as she walked forcefully along with the raging girl.

Mayu grinned weakly and let out a small chuckle as she waved to her goodbye, leaving Hope even more confused.

"Didn't you buy anything, Amane-san?" Hope questioned, looking at Misa's empty hands.

"N-no...There wasn't anything Misa saw that she liked." She lied uneasily, glancing away, unable to look her in the eye after what Mayu had said.

Hope studied her skeptically, detecting her nervousness.

"Anyway... Misa-Misa is hungry... let's go to a cafe to eat." she hurriedly said, trying to hide away her uneasiness, once again pulling Hope down a route. Hope was still wary about her behaviour but didn't press further.

"...Alright..."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Misa picked out the destination and they both entered a cozy-looking coffee shop. It was fairly empty and they quickly found a vaccant place to sit at. A waiter went over to take their order and Misa ordered a piece of sponge cake and a cup of tea, while Hope just settled for a cold strawberry shake.

Their orders arrived in a few minutes and they begun to eat and drink, an akward silence growing in the air.

"...."

_'This is killing Misa-Misa...' _Misa thought with much difficulty, the intense atmosphere choking her sanity. She gazed over at Hope who seemed to be just listlessly sucking on her straw, her eyes focused out of the window they were seated next to. Although there was something about her that made Misa nervous, Misa couldn't help but feel a bit upset that she would find random people passing by more interesting than her. So she finally mustered up enough courage to try to strike up a conversation.

"... does Ichigo-san like strawberries?" she squeaked directly, her voice turned out to be much more meeker than she had hope for it to be.

Hope gave her a weird look, raising her eyebrows slightly in question.

Misa wanted to slap herself. What kind of question was that?! It was completely random! Her eyes downcasted onto the wooden table in front of her and she bit her lip, praying that she didn't mess up too bad.

"....Ah. I do."

Misa looked up, blinking. Hope put back the straw into her mouth and was sucking away again, but this time her eyes were placed carefully onto Misa.

Misa smiled a bit, feeling triumph that she managed to direct her attention to herself. "Erm, that's why you call yourself Ichigo-san when your real name is Hope, right?!"

Unexpectedly, Hope suddenly shot her a harsh glare and Misa froze, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck standing.

"Not so loud." Hope hissed in a low voice. She didn't want her cover to be blown just because of Misa's overly loud voice.

"Sor-Sorry..." the blond bowed her head in guilt. She picked up her fork and started to poke at her cake in depression.

"...."

"Does... does Ichigo-san hate Misa?" Misa asked sadly, the triumph she felt earlier on had slipped away, leaving her with no appetite to consume the delicious dessert placed in front of her. She felt gloomy.

She was sure that Hope hated her. She seemed so irritated all of the time when she was around. Was Misa really that annoying to her? Nothing more than a splinter in her thumb? Maybe being friends with her was an impossible task, afterall.

After observing her drastic change in behaviour, Hope sighed, swirling her pink drink with the rainbow bendy straw.

"I never said I hated Misa, did I?" she muttered nonchalantly.

Those words perked Misa up immediately. She jumped up onto her feet, pushed everything on the table to a side and leaned in closer, an overjoyed smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Hope wanted to back away as she leaned in closer, her eyes shining like sparkling emeralds.

'Eh... then... are Misa-Misa and Ichigo-san... _**friends**_?" she asked, hopefully.

Hope was about to say something when Misa Misa caught her off with a hug across the table, nearing knocking all the dishes over.

"Misa is very, very happy!" she squealed in over excitement into Hope's ears as she threw her arms around Hope's neck and squeezed tightly.

"A-Amane-san, calm down!" Hope's voice breaking into a slight stutter uneasily, surprised at Misa's unexpected touch. She used her hands to peel the clinging girl off of herself and push her lightly back into her chair.

Misa sulked.

"_Amane-san?_ You're making me sound so old!" She complained. "Misa insists that you call her Misa!"

Hope rolled her inky black eyes at the request.

"Fine. Misa-san."

"Noooo!" Misa protested with a long groan, a pout growing onto her face. She shook her head in disapproval, wagging her index finger as a mother would to a child when he did something wrong. "Drop the 'san'! Use 'chan' instead!"

Hope wanted to slap her hand over her face.

"Fine, fine... Misa-_chan_." She gave in with a low grumble.

Misa smiled sweetly in content and satisfaction. She looked down at her sponge cake and jabbed the strawberry that was sitting on top of it with her fork.

"Here, a token of our new-found friendship!" She bubbled, holding out the stawberry on the fork out to Hope's face.

At first, Hope just stared blankly at it, not making a move.

"Eat it!" Misa urged, waving the fruit in front of her face.

Hope's expession only darkened in disinterest as the red fruit dance about in front of her face.

This caused Misa to to worry a bit, wondering if she was being too childish about this whole thing. She was about to pull the strawberry away when Hope leaned in forward and bit the tip of the stawberry in between her teeth, taking it off the fork.

"Itadakimasu." She muttered and pushed the fruit into her mouth with her finger, chewing softly. She shut her eyelids and savored the delightful sweet taste in her mouth, looking mildly pleased.

As Misa watched her new friend eat the strawberry with closed eyes, she could feel a small blush appearing onto her face again. She put her chin onto her hand and smiled, letting out a giggle of content.

She was happy... _for now_.

"Let's go shop some more later, okay?"

The mometary look of mild pleasentness flushed away faster than a flash of lightning when she heard those dreaded words come out of Misa's mouth.

She swallowed loudly and Misa smiled even wider.

"After all, we have all the way until 6!"

_"... kill me."_

**xXxXxXxXxXx**


End file.
